Automated Lane Merging via Game Theory and Branch Model Predictive Control

Luyao Zhang*, Shaohang Han, Sergio Grammatico

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

2 Citations (SciVal)
8 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We propose an integrated behavior and motion planning framework for the lane-merging problem. The behavior planner combines search-based planning with game theory to model vehicle interactions and plan multivehicle trajectories. Inspired by human drivers, we model the lane-merging problem as a gap selection process and determine the appropriate gap by solving a matrix game. Moreover, we introduce a branch model predictive control (BMPC) framework to account for the uncertain equilibrium strategies adopted by the surrounding vehicles, including Nash and Stackelberg strategies. A tailored numerical solver is developed to enhance computational efficiency by exploiting the tree structure inherent in BMPC. Finally, we validate our proposed integrated planner using real traffic data and demonstrate its effectiveness in handling interactions in dense traffic scenarios.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1258-1269
Number of pages12
JournalIEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology
Volume33
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2025

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository as part of the Taverne amendment. More information about this copyright law amendment can be found at https://www.openaccess.nl. Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Keywords

  • Behavior planning
  • game theory
  • lane merging
  • model predictive control
  • trajectory tree

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